In California, if you want a certain handgun, you can't just go and buy it. You can't even get the local gun dealer to order you one. First, you or someone else has to make sure it's on the state's handgun roster.
If it's not, you're out of luck.
The roster is designed to make sure all guns sold in California meet certain supposed safety standards, but in reality, it just dictates that they have to have features that don't really do anything to make anyone safer.
Now, though, two lawmakers are seeking to put an end to those via federal legislation:
Today, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) reintroduced legislation to eliminate unconstitutional handgun rosters that prevent law-abiding citizens in California and New York from freely purchasing modern handgun models.
“For decades, the clear Constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been targeted for elimination, and handgun rosters are only one of the cynical schemes used to undermine the Second Amendment through the pretense of firearm safety,” said Rep. Issa. “These rosters impose excessive and unnecessary requirements that actually restrict access to firearms equipped with the most up-to-date safety features, and that’s why I’m proud to partner with my friend Rep. Stefanik to defend sacred rights and end these unjust restrictions.”
The Modern Firearm Safety Act prohibits all states from requiring gun manufacturers to adopt costly and unnecessary features – including loaded chamber indicators, magazine disconnect mechanisms, and microstamping – to sell firearms nationwide.
“I am proud to re-introduce the Modern Firearm Safety Act to end the unconstitutional gun-grabbing agenda thrust on law-abiding New York residents by Far-Left Democrats like Kathy Hochul. This legislation would ban Albany Democrats from imposing illegal handgun roster requirements meant to deter gun ownership. I will always protect American citizens’ Second Amendment rights and provide a critical check to any entity attempting to encroach on their liberties,” said Chairwoman Stefanik.
“Liberal states use handgun rosters to violate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The Modern Firearm Safety Act will put a stop to these unconstitutional rosters and uphold Americans’ right to bear arms,” said Rep. Gooden.
What happens in many cases is that popular handgun models can't be sold in states with some kind of roster because the company that makes them has no interest in trying to comply with dictates from an anti-gun state. That means people in those states can only pick from an artificially reduced pool of options.
And if they don't care about those things like loaded chamber indicators and magazine disconnects — which means the gun can't fire with the magazine removed — well, that doesn't matter because their betters in the state capitol have decided otherwise.
It should be noted that while loaded chamber indicators can be handy for some, they're mechanical and thus not foolproof. Magazine disconnects may benefit some people, but others prefer not to have such a thing in their firearms.
With a free market, people can decide for themselves which features they want and which ones they don't.
Pretty much no one wants microstamping, though, except for anti-gun officials who think they can score political points with such requirements.
A bill like this passing would most definitely undermine such efforts.
The problem is that, as this might make it through the House, Senate Democrats will be able to filibuster this one. While it won't impact most states, the anti-gun party isn't remotely interested in anything but controlling firearms in as many places as possible. If their home states don't have a roster, then Senate Democrats are hoping that will change in the near future, even if they know it won't.
They'll block it, and it'll never make it to the president's desk.
I hope I'm wrong, though, because these rosters are beyond stupid, to say nothing of unconstitutional.